Method of basing and soldering



March 26, 1929.

INVENTOR D s. GUST N ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 26, 1929.

,UNITED' STA rss PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL SNYDER GUSTIN, OF

BLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO WESTING- HOUSE LAMP COMPANY, A.CORPO RA'IION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF BASING All-VIII) SOLDERING.

Application filed ncce nber 21, 1926. Serial No. 158,220.

' usually consist in a union of one of the leadinwires to a metallicinsulated contact centrally disposed upon the bottom of the base and toa union of the other lead-in wire by soldering to the outsidecylindrical surface of the base.

The development of the electric lamp industry has made it desirable toeliminate as far as possible all external projections or protuberancesupon the outer surface of the lamp andit has been found advantageous toeliminate the so-called surface solder contact.

To accomplish the above, the vention provides for the union of one ofthe leading-in wires to the interior surface of the base to provide whatmay be termed the side contact. It will be understood that the metallicshell of the base actually provides the conductive medium for the flowof energy through the lead-in wire connected thereto, while thecentrally disposed contact is insulated from the metallic shell or base.

Infurther carrying out the present invention, it has been foundadvantageous to combine the operation of soldering the side lead to theshell at the time the shell or base is secured to the bulb of the lamp.This latter operation of securing the bulb to the base is termed basingand consists in depositing a quantity of cementitious material in thebase, introducing the neck of the bulb into the base so as to firmlypress the said material in contact with the wall thereof and withi'theneck of the bulb. The base is then subjected to a baking operation toset the cement and cause the same to securely bond the base and bulbtogether.

In the operation of basing, it is the practice to first deposit aquantity of cement, usually in the form of a ring, which surrounds theupper inside edge of the base, this cement is of such character as toremain in a plastic state for a relatively long period of time prior tobaking. It has been found that this ring of cement may be utilized topresent inhold a clip or tab of solder which may be of relatively lowfusing point, the solder may 'be pressed into the cement until itdisplaces a portion thereof and makes contact with the 1ns1de surface ofthe base.

Alamp may then be positioned with the neck thereof in the base and oneof the leading-in Wiresmay be threaded through the bottom centralcontact and the other leading- 1n w1re disposed in contact with thesolder at the side of the base. The base may be then passed firmly intoposition and subected to the baking operation at which time the solderwill be fused to unite the leadingin wire adjacent thereto to the insideWall of the base.

If desirable, the leading-in wire constituting the side contact may beof sufficient length so as to project from the upper edge of the baseand after the fusing operation, may be cut off flush with the edgethereof, or the leading-in wire may be of such length as not to projectfrom the edge of the base in which case no further operations will benecessary.

The cement employed for securing a lamp bulb to a base isof suchcharacter as to require a relatively high temperature for the bakingoperation and by employing a solder of a. low. fusing point thesoldering and bak- 1ng operations may be performed simultaneously. It isobvious, however, that the baking operation may be performed at a lowertemperature and the soldering accomplished by the application of ahotiron or flame to the outside of the base adjacent to the solder depositeither before or after the baking operation An object of the presentinvention is, therefore, to facilitate the manufacture of an incandscentlamp by combining the operation of baking and soldering so that the samemay be performed automatically and simultaneously.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lamp having a base of amore neat appearance, free from external irregularities.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more fullyunderstood by reference to the following description together with theaccompanying drawing.

Fig. .1 is a sectional view of a base having a deposit of cementtherein;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view similar to that shown in Fig. 1 andillustrates the cement as supporting a solder clip;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on line III-III in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 shows abulb and base in position to be movedthrough a heat zone, the base-being partly broken away.

Although the present invention may have other applications, it isillustrated in connection witha metallic base or shell 10 of anincandescent electric lamp. This base is generally provided 7 sulatedfromthe shell by a non-conductive insert 12. For the purpose of securingthe base to a lamp bulb 13, the base is first provided with a ring 14 ofcement which is de posited adjacent to the upper edge and upon theinterior surface of the base. This cement usually consists of a plasticmixture of shellac combined with a fillersuch as kaolin and a suitablesolvent such as alcohol. When an exceptionally high temperature cementis used, bakelite is added to or substituted for the shellac.

In practicing the present invention, the bases are first supplied withthe cement in the usual manner and then a clip or, deposit of solder 15is disposed in the cement and pressed against the metallic surface ofthe shell 10. When the bulb 13 is a plied to the base, a leading-in wire16 (see ig. 4) is threaded through the contact 11 in the usual mannerfor the subse uent-soldering operation. A lead wire 1 however, is guidedupwardly and so disposed as to lie in contact with the fusible materialor solder 15; an end 18 of the lead-in wire may extend from the shelland subsequently be out off at the edge thereof.

When the bulb and base are properly disposed and supported in the usualclamp 19 on a conveyor 21, the clamp is provided with a spring member 24and a cup 25 so that the bulb 13 is forced into the base and the lead inwire 17 is pressed firmly against the solder 15. Usually the base. issurrounded and held by a cap 26 through which heat is transmitted to thebase by burners 27 and 28 or by other suitable means as by the provisionof an electric heating element in which case the cap 26 may be dispensedwith. The conveyor may be moved to cause a travel of the base through aheat zone provided at which time the cement will be properly seasoned orset to bond the base and bulb together and the fusible material will bemelted to connect the leading-in wire 17 to the shell or base 10.

It will be understood that a suitable flux may be combined with thesolder or that a flux may be applied at the time the leadingin wire isdisposed in contact with the solder. From the above,

theside contact of the lamp may be made with a contact 11, in-

it will be evident that d1 in a convenient and expeditious manner andthe appearance of the lamp greatly improved. I

The soldering operations in lamp manufacture are more or less of acomplicated nature, particularly by reason of the side contact whichrequires either a laterally disposed soldering device or the necessityof rotating the lamp bodily for the successive operations of solderingthe bottom center contact and the side contact. Ordinarily the bottomcontact is performed in a relatively simple manner since the leading-inwire 16 projects from the contact in a uniform manner and lends itselfto an automatic soldering operation. The side contact, however, as whenthe leading-in wire projects from the u per edge of the base, it is moredifiicult, since it is necessary to reperly direct the leading-in wireinto suitable relation with the lamp base and to maintain the lead insuch position while a drop of solder is deposited thereon. It is alsooften necessary to remove the end. of the leading in wire which mayproject from the solder.

By reason of the present invention, therefore, the said solderingoperation is automatically accomplished during the basing, thus greatlysimplifying the lamp manufacture in that the one remaining solderingoperation is a simple oneand the cost of production consequentlymaterially reduced.

Although a. preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and describedherein, it is to be understood that modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

at is aimed is:

1. The method of manufacturing an incondescent electric lamp whichcomprises providing a lamp-base with an amount of quantity of basingcement within the base, positioning the bulb in the base with aleading-in wire thereof adjacent to said solder and in applying heat, tothe base to simultaneously fuse thesolder and connect the leading-inwire to the base and bake the cement to unite. the bulb and base.

2. The method of manufacturing an incandescent electric lamp whichcomprises providing the base thereof with a leadingin wire disposedadjacent to the interior surface of the base, depositing a quantity ofsolder material adjacent to the wire, depositing cement in the base,positioning a bulb for union to the base, subjecting the base to heat tofuse the solder to connect the leadingin wire to the base and to bakethecement to unite the base and bulb.

3. A step in the manufacture of an incandescent electric lam whichcomprises disposing a lamp bulb within a base so as to 'spose aleading-in wire adjacent to a solder deposit within the base and insubjecting the solder to heat to fuse the leading-in Wire to the base.

4. A step in the manufacture of an incandescent electric lamp whichcomprises supporting a quantity of fusible maten'al upon the inner wallof a lamp base, positioning' a lamp bulb with a lead-wire thereofadjacent to said fusible material and heating said material to fuse thesame and connect the lead wire to the base.

5. The method of soldering a wire to the inner surface of a lamp basewhich comprises attaching a quantity of fusible material to said innersurface, disposing a wire adjacent to said material and applying heat tofuse the material and secure the the .base.

6. The method of securing a wire to the inner surface of a lamp basewhich comprises depositing a plastic substance upon theinncr wall of thebase, applying a fusible material to said substance for attachment tothe wall of said base, disposing a wire adjacent to said fusiblematerial and in heating the same to secure the wire to the base.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 20th dayof December, 1926.

DANIEL SNYDER GUSTIN.

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